WaPo: Assault-weapons ban is probably DOA

posted at 2:31 pm on January 29, 2013 by Ed Morrissey

Alternate headline: Math isn’t hard after all.The Washington Post’s Aaron Blake offers multiple reasons why Dianne Feinstein’s assault-weapons ban won’t be going anywhere in the Senate, and the first reason isn’t even the fact that Democrats can’t get anywhere near the 60 votes to bring the bill to a vote. The first clue is that Joe Biden more or less dismissed it during his Google hangout the day after Feinstein announced the bill:

The same day that Feinstein introduced the bill, Biden suggested that magazine sizes were the most important part of a gun control package. ”I’m much less concerned, quite frankly, about what you call an assault weapon than I am about magazines and the number of rounds that can be held in a magazine,” Biden said in a Google Hangout. He added that “more people out there get shot with a Glock that has cartridges in a (high-capacity magazine)” and also suggested that shotguns are more deadly than so-called assault weapons. Biden then again downplayed the ban again during a two-hour roundtable discussion on Friday.

This, we remind you, is all within 24 hours of the assault weapons ban being introduced by a Democratic senator. And Biden is already giving us reasons why it’s not that big a deal.

Biden is the point man on all of this. His words matter, and he’s quite aware of the current politics of his issue. The fact that he’s downplaying the assault weapons ban suggests that it’s not likely to happen and he doesn’t want the whole thing to be viewed as a failure if the ban isn’t passed.

At the time, NBC read the writing on the wall, too:

Getting an outright ban through a divided Congress in the face of opposition from the National Rifle Association and other groups is unlikely, and the fight is likely to focus on other measures, like the background checks and limits on magazine size.

As for the math, that’s pretty easy to do. Bloomberg reported late last week that even if the bill came to a floor vote, Democrats won’t get a majority despite having 55 seats in the upper chamber:

At least six of the 55 senators in the Democratic caucus have expressed skepticism or outright opposition to a ban, the review found. That means Democrats wouldn’t have a 51-vote majority to pass the measure, let alone the 60 needed to break a Republican filibuster to bring it to a floor vote. …

The five Democratic senators from traditionally pro-gun states who have expressed skepticism about the bill are Max Baucus and Jon Tester of Montana, Mark Begich of Alaska, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Manchin of West Virginia. Independent Senator Angus King of Maine, who caucuses with Democrats, also said he opposes a ban.

Maine Senator Susan Collins, a Republican who supported similar legislation in 2004, has indicated she is unlikely to back the proposed ban in its current form.

Left off of Bloomberg’s list are another three Democrats who may find it difficult to cast votes for a ban: New Hampshire’s Jean Shaheen, whose state has a significant gun-manufacturing industry; North Carolina’s Kay Hagan, whose state has turned more Republican of late; and Arkansas’ Mark Pryor, whose constituents would not likely reward him for banning guns, either. And if Collins won’t vote for it, Feinstein won’t find any other Republicans to fill the gaps, either.

Feinstein said Saturday that Harry Reid, who is also not likely to vote for the bill, promised her a floor vote, but it may just be as an amendment:

Senator Dianne Feinstein said Majority Leader Harry Reid has promised that even if the assault weapons ban is left out of a broader package intended to curb gun violence, she will have the opportunity to offer it as an amendment on the Senate floor.

Thanks to the new filibuster rules, though, both sides are only guaranteed two amendments on any bill. I’m not sure that Reid will want to waste a slot on an amendment that will not only go nowhere but might end up endangering some of his red-state colleagues who face voters in 2014. And also thanks to the new filibuster rules, Republicans can block Feinstein’s bill from a floor vote no matter what Harry Reid wants.

The assault-weapons ban is most certainly DOA. Some of the components, like expanded background checks and magazine limits, may still pass, but Feinstein’s core proposal has zero chance of proceeding, especially after last week’s compromise on the filibuster.

Addendum: Regarding the front-page picture, did no one ever tell Feinstein to keep her finger off the trigger of a firearm unless ready to shoot? Shouldn’t a politician attempting to lecture us on gun safety know something about it herself?

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Addendum: Regarding the front-page picture, did no one ever tell Feinstein to keep her finger off the trigger of a firearm unless ready to shoot? Shouldn’t a politician attempting to lecture us on gun safety know something about it herself?

Please forgive my cynicism, but how would Senator Feinstein accidently shooting and killing half of the Senate be a bad thing?

Biden is the point man on all of this. His words matter, and he’s quite aware of the current politics of his issue.

I have my doubts Biden is aware of his own name, much less the politics of an issue. When will they learn that the guy just runs his mouth without any thought whatsoever?

But, they’re right…it won’t pass. Which is why Obama made a big show with the exec actions recently. He wants everyone to know he did stuff, while Republicans just want everyone’s kids to get shot or whatever.

Addendum: Regarding the front-page picture, did no one ever tell Feinstein to keep her finger off the trigger of a firearm unless ready to shoot? Shouldn’t a politician attempting to lecture us on gun safety know something about it herself?

That’s the first thing I noticed. The government should keep her away from firearms.

Senator Dianne Feinstein said Majority Leader Harry Reid has promised that even if the assault weapons ban is left out of a broader package intended to curb gun violence, she will have the opportunity to offer it as an amendment on the Senate floor.

And Diane is senile enough to believe him. After all, since her bill has no sunset clause, this was to be her enduring legacy to the nation.

Addendum: Regarding the front-page picture, did no one ever tell Feinstein to keep her finger off the trigger of a firearm unless ready to shoot? Shouldn’t a politician attempting to lecture us on gun safety know something about it herself?

there was probably a bunch of catholic straight white men in front of her. she couldn’t help herself.

Yes, in the previous post with that picture, I told Feinstein to keep her finger off the trigger, but I used the word B..ch, which I very seldom ever use anywhere. However, MKH thought it was more important to use nice words than speak the truth. and killed the comment.

Shouldn’t a politician attempting to lecture us on gun safety know something about it herself?

You’re kidding, right?

You think when the Senate debates Global Warming or nuclear waste disposal, or regulation of market derivatives, they actually know something about it?

If politicians knew anything about the subjects they’re legislating, they’d be out in the real world making money. They’re members of the rent-seeking part of society because they couldn’t survive otherwise.

If they had initially just gone for smaller magazines, it would have sailed through. Now probably not, though it still could happen. Another case of overreach, thank goodness for Dhimmicrat overreach.

I have my doubts Biden is aware of his own name, much less the politics of an issue. When will they learn that the guy just runs his mouth without any thought whatsoever?
…
changer1701 on January 29, 2013 at 2:37 PM

Biden may be a buffoon, but he is very good at reading the political currents.

As the Senate will likely also take the ‘kabuki theatre’ route when they bring up the ‘Budget’ for a ‘vote’, why is it that the GOP declines to shine a light on the Dems willingness to play public relations on important issues rather than put forth solutions.

Is it such a bad thing that legislation might be brought up for debate? (“the fact that Democrats can’t get anywhere near the 60 votes…”) Two hundred years of governance seldom showed the lack of courage as the past 4.

We need to hold the line on magazine capacities, too. Like the “assault weapons” ban, the limit on magazine capacities will have no impact on gun crime or mass shootings. It’s just another law designed to burden the gun rights of law abiding citizens.

And remember, liberals are relentlessly pursuing an agenda designed to remove all guns from private ownership. And this is how it starts. Once they force you into giving a concession, that becomes the baseline for another concession, and another, and another, until one day all guns are banned.

Addendum: Regarding the front-page picture, did no one ever tell Feinstein to keep her finger off the trigger of a firearm unless ready to shoot? Shouldn’t a politician attempting to lecture us on gun safety know something about it herself?

Why? Her bill exempts a whole class of people, most of which are deranged or otherwise addled, known to the public as politicians.

Addendum: Regarding the front-page picture, did no one ever tell Feinstein to keep her finger off the trigger of a firearm unless ready to shoot? Shouldn’t a politician attempting to lecture us on gun safety know something about it herself?

Well Damn!
And she has a CCL doesn’t she? Is this grounds for revocation?

Illinois, which is the state-of-stupid, requires me to keep paperwork for a period of ten years, whenever I sell a gun. I would be perfectly happy to have my buyer go through an FFL transfer if I could be let off the hook for that paperwork, but no, they’re too stupid to understand that, so why bother?

Republicans *should* offer an amendment to every single bill going forward: “This bill repeals Obamacare in its entirety.” Let the lefties put up as many lefty wet-dreams as possible and kill them with this simple amendment, or let them pass it and kill of Obamacare.

Republicans *should* offer an amendment to every single bill going forward: “This bill repeals Obamacare in its entirety.” Let the lefties put up as many lefty wet-dreams as possible and kill them with this simple amendment, or let them pass it and kill of Obamacare.

1. The fact that Reid didn’t pursue aggressive filibuster reform largely killed this. If they passed some kind of nuclear option to allow them to bring garbage like this to an up or down vote, they would have been able to twist arms to get to 51. It was dead in the House, but still… And let me tell you, most red state Dems don’t want to be within 100ft of a vote on this either way. So the watering down of filibuster changes essentially killed this

2. I’m still pretty nervous/angry we’re still going to see a red herring debate about passing a bill banning high capacity mags and see some RINO’s get peeled off to go along. Hopefully it’ll still be DOA in the House, but I think that’s an easy way for the commies to pass “something” after they stoked the left into a furor for more gun control, allowing them to save a little face. You can just tell Biden is already doing damage control to move the goalposts for a magazine ban.

The fight isn’t over. We’ve won the first few battles, but we’re not out of the woods yet with more garbage nanny legislation

Addendum: Regarding the front-page picture, did no one ever tell Feinstein to keep her finger off the trigger of a firearm unless ready to shoot? Shouldn’t a politician attempting to lecture us on gun safety know something about it herself?

Relax. I’m sure she looked down the barrel first to make sure it wasn’t loaded.

Or better yet offer this up as an amendment to every single bill in the future. Time for a Mandatory Federal Firearms Law, Enter the Affordable Firearms Act.

SWalker on January 29, 2013 at 3:01 PM

I wholeheartedly support that act. Since its so remarkably sensible it’ll never pass with the current cast of characters in DC.

hawkeye54 on January 29, 2013 at 3:06 PM

Well, it would be Constitutional since after all, when I wrote it, all I did is take the Affordable Health Care Act, and cross out Heath-care and replace it with Firearms. And we know the Affordable Health-Care Act is constitutional.

You must also remember and fear the most important and deadly item in the previous “assault” weapons ban. The deadly and feared bayonet stud. Did you know that more bayonet studs have killed more children than traffic accidents? Of course, it helps the librul argument that most bayonet studs are attached to military surplus rifles, not automatic assault rifles. It is hard to stab someone with an machine gun (automatic rifle).

We need to hold the line on magazine capacities, too. Like the “assault weapons” ban, the limit on magazine capacities will have no impact on gun crime or mass shootings. It’s just another law designed to burden the gun rights of law abiding citizens.
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Outlander on January 29, 2013 at 2:48 PM

As a result of the NY SAFE Act of 2013, effective immediately, all NY customers purchasing any CMP rifles, to include the M1 Garand, to be delivered in NY must have the rifle shipped to a NY licensed FFL dealer in NY for compliance with SAFE Act requirements. Copy of dealer’s license and shipping information must be provided with rifle orders. Ammunition orders may still be shipped directly to the customer for the remainder of 2013.

NY customers who have already mailed their rifle orders to CMP should provide custserve@thecmp.org with dealer information or order cancellation instructions. Information can also be faxed to 256-835-3527 or mailed to CMP Customer Service, (Attn: NY Order), 1401 Commerce Blvd., Anniston, AL 36207.

Heretofore, you ordered an M-1 Garand from them, and it was sent straight to your door via Fedex. I wonder what effect the 7-round limit will have on M-1 owners in that state?

At least six of the 55 senators in the Democratic caucus have expressed skepticism or outright opposition to a ban, the review found. That means Democrats wouldn’t have a 51-vote majority to pass the measure

….. Harry Reid, who is also not likely to vote for the bill,

……these democratic bitter clingers that are owned by the NRA, must hate children and according to super lib Stephen King….need to be there to clean up the blood and intestines of the next victims taken down by those scary guns.

………….now the democrats on the Hill and their hollywood friends won’t have to give up their armed security……..
…and it looks like Bloomberg is going to have to stick to banning soft drinks and mapping out marathons through the front yards of storm victims.

……these democratic bitter clingers that are owned by the NRA, must hate children and according to super lib Stephen King….need to be there to clean up the blood and intestines of the next victims taken down by those scary guns.

Baxter Greene on January 29, 2013 at 3:40 PM

Next time an unarmed defenseless family gets murdered during a home invasion, I want to see that @ssh0le King made to clean up the mess.

Some wonderfully knowledgeable comments by the Low IQ Democrat Voters at the WaPo link…

No wonder the NRA is against mental health list legislation. Sounds like a good share of those posting here in support of the NRA position couldnt pass a mental health test.

Hey hicks, nobody is talking about taking your handgun away. Get a frickin clue. You can stop posting examples of how a gun stopped gun violence. It has nothing to do with the assault weapons ban proposed.

I’m sorry you are poor and uneducated and need to cling to your guns for a sense of power.

Minds are terrible things to waste…especially when the incumbent pResident had to get 80% of the high school dropout vote to win in 2012!

DiFi’s husband – heavily invested in military contractor companies – so basically he’s an arms dealer.
Also on the board of CurrentTV – which algore just sold to Al Jazeera.
And has benefitted in a huge financial way from buying companies who immediately got big government contracts or subsidies.
Talk about insider trading…..

Unlikely; her husband’s company has hundreds of millions in defense contracts.

Meh, profiting handsomely from dealing in defense contracts is not quite the same as appreciating and holding the military in high regard. DiFi can loathe our military on one hand and get filthier rich off them on the other.

Does this mean that soon I will be able to buy a PMAG or CMI M14 mag for a normal price rather than what the gougers are charging on gunbroker?

Bishop on January 29, 2013 at 4:07 PM

See my comment above. Don’t pay gouger prices – but you need patience.
Besides what I said above about getting some new mags, another shop out here (Dragon Man) just got a pretty big supply of AR and AK 30 round mags – but he wants $30 each for them. That may be a good price to some people, but I’ve found better – the 30 round AR mags I just got from The Mako Group were about $19 each (steel, made in Israel) – but they’re overwhelmed with orders so delivery takes awhile.

Meh, profiting handsomely from dealing in defense contracts is not quite the same as appreciating and holding the military in high regard. DiFi can loathe our military on one hand and get filthier rich off them on the other.

hawkeye54 on January 29, 2013 at 4:19 PM

I agree totally.
She’s probably one of the main sources of forced DoD pork spending on crap the military doesn’t need and doesn’t want – but her and her cronies force DoD to waste their budget on the useless crap so they can get rich on the back side of the deal.

I have enough but I wouldn’t mind filling in a few holes here and there. Gunbroker is insane, dudes are trying to sell PMAGS and such for $60-70 apiece, and some are actually bidding on them; unbelievable.

I have enough but I wouldn’t mind filling in a few holes here and there. Gunbroker is insane, dudes are trying to sell PMAGS and such for $60-70 apiece, and some are actually bidding on them; unbelievable.

Bishop on January 29, 2013 at 4:36 PM

I don’t understand the people who are willing to pay the extreme over-inflated prices. By being patient, I’ve been able to pick a couple AR or AK mags here and there over time at fairly reasonable prices. The highest I’ve paid so far is $42 for a 40 round AK Polymag and $25 for a 30 rounder.
The one I’m having the most trouble finding right now is the S&W M&P9 17 round mag. I’ve already got 6, so I don’t really NEED more, but I just can’t find them at any price.

You can’t be much of a war planner if you don’t know that M1 Garands don’t have magazines, but operate off loading clips, which I always thought was a pain in the arse. When you finish the clip, it pops out with a tink and you have to shove another one in with your thumb.

Sharpshooter qualified, M1 Garand, June 1962.
Qualified expert, close combat M1 Carbine August 1962,
Then M2, M14, M79, 105 and 155 howitzer. I don’t plan wars. People who successfully do are called logisticians. Eisenhower was a logistician.

Actually, I think that M1 Garands qualify in the librul mind as assault rifles because they have that vile, deadly, horrible bayonet stud. Since they defined anything with a bayonet stud as being an assault weapon, it must be the bayonet stud that is responsible for all those abortions.

Addendum: Regarding the front-page picture, did no one ever tell Feinstein to keep her finger off the trigger of a firearm unless ready to shoot? Shouldn’t a politician attempting to lecture us on gun safety know something about it herself?

Hah… I too noticed that Comrade Feinstein (*spit*) had her finger on the trigger. That’s because she’s aching to sh00t some Republicans–or any citizen that doesn’t immediately hand over the contents of their wallet or purse–pronto.